Stuff you took for granted that no longer exists?

[Confusednbemused]

Was saying to my daughter how I used to go to Boots or Superdrug and take free perfume samples to try at home before deciding what to buy and it occurred to me I've no idea when that stopped and the little strips of paper became a thing!!

What inanimate or service level thing do you miss which you used to take for granted?

You can still get the big tins but its around £40

Just the fun of tiny/ simple / smaller scale things - small concert halls pre O2 and huge venues that cost a fortune; not needing a second mortgage to decorate / renovate; mooching round shops and not being overwhelmed by all the choices of high end toiletries and cosmetics that fuel multii million industry rather than when you just felt happy to come home with a new miners mascara or eye shadow , then pop out to inexpensive cinema or local wine bar without spending ££££ !!

Home landlines for me too - it especially struck me when I became a mum, how solid and dependable landlines had been (generally speaking) and how for emergency calls I'm now reliant on a device that can decide to have a blip and freeze/lose reception/run out of batteries.

Mobile companies don't appear to owe customers any reliability at all for the devices that have largely replaced landlines - there's no accountability/responsibility to make sure customers have safe access to emergency calls at home. My previous phone died last year, it took a week to get a new one sorted and my provider could not have been less helpful!

Buying a phone with a charger and plug included.

Debenhams and its cafe that was so handy for little kids.

Free fruit in supermarkets for kids.

Robert Sayle. Anyone who visited Cambridge pre 2004 might remember it. Half my childhood memories are in that shop 🤣

Eastenders omnibus, I don’t even watch EE anymore.

Bay Trading.

Buying a film and actually having a physical copy of the thing that didn’t tie you down to a poxy subscription service. You could even GASP lend it to someone!

Being able to fast forward adverts.

People supporting their kids teachers and schools rather than questioning and complaining about every little tiny thing that doesn’t even matter. I think emails and smartphones are partly to blame for this - it’s too easy to send a moany email.

Also agree with customer service and Woolworths.

I still have a landline.

Yes I miss seeing very stary skies. Mostly it seems to be cloudy but even on clear nights there are very few visible. For me it was a gulet cruise along the Turkish coast when we'd just drop anchor overnight in the middle of nowhere and there was NO light pollution when the boat turned all its lights off, it was magical, I do miss it. There was a tv programme recently about a woman who is on a mission to reduce light pollution, and has some funding to do so, very interesting.

The dry-cleaning fluid in little bottles with a padded cloth top you could dab on greasy or dirty marks. It worked so well. It also dissolved candle wax if it got on a cloth.

It is madness to lose landlines. I just cannot understand how this is not obvious.

I'm in Australia, so Bramley apples to make apple sauce for Christmas, and I mean the two words, not the bloody awful "applesauce" US usage. Up there with "wildflowers" instead of wild flowers.

And breathe.

You can't get Bramley apples in Victoria, possibly in Tasmania or plant your win tree. Granny Smiths have to do.

I have a landline.

I still have a beautiful bauble I got there one Christmas. It was lovely there.

Properly made clothes on the high street. - so shirts or tops with darts, proper waist bands and using zips and buttons rather than elastic everything. Linings. Natural fabrics.

Roller discos.

Being able to leave home as a teenager and strike out , renting grotty house shares with friends.

Last minute cheap travel agent deals - 400 for 2 people to Crete, flights , transfers, decent enough hotel, half board. Those were the days!

Being able to go about without being recorded by CCTV, ANPR or someone’s ring door bell.

Everyone watching a programme at the same time - instead of catch up.

Things being harder to get hold of made them more exciting - a new LP, foreign book, some food or drink that was unusual.

Being able to do things spontaneously - I remember buying Glasto tickets the week before from a record shop. No major drama, just strolled down.

Life being less fast paced - some people seem to be booked up months in advance. Concerts, shows, weekends away etc.

Shoe shops! Our town of 80-100k people has no shoe shops at all.
Apparently we all vape a lot, need many gents barbers and have our nails and other beauty treatments done but none of us ever have any need for shoes.

Yes! In that TV series, the last of us, when the kids go round an empty shopping mall from 2003, that made me think of exactly this. FWIW, today town actually seemed busy, kind of like it used to be every weekend in the noughties. You might like Liverpool, if you've not been. To me, it's the nearest thing to the good old days.

@MiddlingMarch Yes my darling late MIL would bring treats from Jenners. I miss Schofields from my days in Leeds, Lewises in Sheffield, the "proper" Co-op department stores where you could order things in and have money set aside - before they amalagamated then closed. But my most treasured memory is Keddies in Southend-on-Sea. I saved up to take my late DM there for lunch a few times when I was 14.DM would treat me to lunch at Fortnums in Picadilly, but in my young mind it felt as posh! Always excellent customer service and felt very special even when still a very young woman. Much missed. All these wonderful department stores going are the death knell of the stupidly pedestrianised high streets, and i fear the greed (and short sightedness) of local councils is much at fault.

Topshop and Miss Selfridge actual stores.

Saturday afternoon shopping in town with your mates, for an outfit to wear out that evening. And trying loads of things on in the shop changing rooms. Before online shopping was a big thing

Buying my favourite magazines every month to get fashion tips, as no influencers then to tell you what was in fashion!

Wearing the free perfume sample from the said magazine you bought, on the night out - all the glossy fashion magazines always smelt of Clinique Happy or Estée Lauder!

@ScrollingLeaves- Dabitoff!!

We fly business class now. Not bragging. Just old and it's worth it for the seats that turn into beds.

I miss cashiers acknowledging my existence ( unless they are older and have a simple courtesy chat or smile). Nowadays, I am just a transaction using a card.

I like in rural Essex and we’ve lost the “country” accent. A few old people in the village still have a strong accent similar to a Suffolk accent but nobody under about 65 talks like that now

Toast topper

This is genius.

Me too. I made some once; melted chocolate, raisins, rice ceispies, chopped nuts and chopped fudge pieces. Poured into a lined baking tin and cut into bars. Surprisingly passable.

Cafés in shops.

Woolworths, M and S, BHS all had a café.

I really miss the café in Sainsbury's. I'd often treat myself to a breakfast, a scone or a sandwich. I also loved the Christmas dinner that the café in my Co-op Hypermarket did.

Weirdly, I sail past the café in Tesco every morning and it never occurs to me to go in there.

Simple games like Blind Man's Buff to pass the time, and when these were staples of entertainment at children's parties; now it's expensive things like professional entertainers, and soft play.